Dreamer
They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. -Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleonora" Early Life Dreamer was born in the Dreamworld some time in the late second millennium BC to a Median man, and a dream spirit who, being desperate and ill-informed, hoped to manifest permanently in the waking world by conceiving a child with a human. The Median died as a result of this union, and the spirit perished giving birth to her child. The boy was then taken into the protection of the dreamlords and named Rhamna. Being part human, Rhamna was bound to both the waking world and the Dreamworld, and he found this dichotomy torturous. To the end of reconciling his dual natures, he obtained counsel from the dreamlords, who explained that, as he was born into the Dreamworld, he would need to be born into the waking world as a physical being in order to unify his disparate energies. The rite of transference required for this, however, was mis-performed, and Rhamna ended up being born into the waking world on a planet called Terinam millions of light years from Earth. Terinam and the Immortals Rhamna was born again to the Terinam demi-god Kyschok and a witch-priestess of his temple, whose name none were allowed to say. They initially named him Maalek, but when he was old enough to undergo a self-naming ritual, he chose to be called Rhamna and to retain Maalek as a family name. Through Kyschok, he inherited a percentage of Outsider blood as well as the powers and abilities that came with demi-godhood. His mother passed on to him a high magical aptitude and raised him in the understanding of many exotic magics. Throughout this second childhood, Rhamna strove to maintain his connection to the Dreamworld, and thus he regained and maintained all of the gifts inherent in his nature as a dreamwalker. By his teens, he was an immensely powerful priest in his own right, and by mid-adulthood he had ascended to a position of some political prestige, earning the title ec Siferion as an indicator of his position and influence. He served in this capacity for nearly a century before Terinam came under attack from an itinerant army of inter-dimensional beings known as Immortals. The Immortals waged bloody war on the people of Terinam for 50 years, claiming the lives of many of Rhamna's friends and family, including that of his mother and his childhood love, Delina. Disgusted by the brutality, Rhamna retreated offworld - an act for which he continues to feel guilt. The Immortals eventually killed three quarters of the Terinam population. The remaining number were captured and enslaved with the use of a complex mutagenic toxin. The Immortal queen, who produced this compound in venom glands, finally managed to flush Rhamna out of hiding. Bitten and infected, Rhamna nonetheless managed to escape, albeit just as the planet itself was destroyed by Immortal warships. The shockwave crippled Rhamna's ship, leaving him adrift for days. On the brink of death, Rhamna returned to the Dreamworld, leaving his body to die in space. Third Birth The Dreamlords, particularly Yam, cared for Rhamna as he struggled to convalesce. As hope faded for a recovery, a ritual was performed to transfer Rhamna's consciousness into a dream construct, which was then inserted into the dreaming mind of an unborn child. The rite was a success. By the time the child was born to Finnish newlyweds Daniel and Julia Makkonen, Rhamna was rejuvenated. The Makkonens named him Steven. He found new life and, with all of his previous powers restored, he began to recreate himself. He did not live long with the Makkonens, however. Ardis, a dreamlord who opposed the Council's long-time support of Rhamna, murdered them as they dreamed. For this, Ardis was banished to the Oustide. Orphaned, Dreamer sequestered himself in Eadsville, studying Terrestrial magic and ley lines and, over many years, amassing a private fortune. He built Pontiac Mansion on the eastern outskirts of the city, tethering it strongly to the Dreamworld, through which he wandered for untold years before making his official return to Lemuria. There, he took Ardis's seat on the Council of Five, calling himself The Dreamer to associate himself with - rather distinguish himself from - the entities largely responsible for creating the lands of Dream. He took Rhamna Makkonen ec Siferion as something of a private name, adopting Makkonen in honor of the parents who, as he sees it, died for his recreation. Personality In all of his incarnations, Dreamer's personality has remained unchanged. He is quiet, calm, collected, succinct in speech, and something of an aristocrat. He feels very deeply, expresses himself without fear, and is possessed of an easy grace. He rarely gets flustered, though he abhors conflict and must struggle to overcome a natural cowardice in combat. Appearance In his current incarnation, Dreamer is a characteristic Finn. He has blond hair, pale skin, and high cheekbones. He looks to be about 35, and he no longer appears to age. He wears his hair long to the pleasure of his lover, Verity, and keeps no facial hair. His eyes alternate between myriad shades of blue and green, sometimes alternating between browns, yellows, and even reds on rare occasions. He keeps in excellent shape and has very refined tastes in clothing. He often wears a black and white checker pattern, the symbol of his position on the Council of Five In his Immortal form, Dreamer gains roughly 2 feet in height,as he grows antlers not unlike those of the addax. A thin coat of pale, blue fur striped with white covers his body, and his feet curl into ungulate hooves. Powers and Tools As a dreamwalker, Dreamer has the ability to move freely in and out of the realm of Dreams and to manifest in the dreams of virtually any individual in the waking world. Though he can change any individual's dream however he wants, he doesn't do this often as a general rule. He is also able to use the vague connection that virtually all entities have to the conduits of Dream to achieve a kind of telepathy, which he can use to find hidden entities and to cloud minds as well as to communicate even when his target is awake. Though he rarely finds it absolutely necessary to fight, Dreamer can generate aura blasts from his hands and wields a psyblade caple of severing an attacker's connection to the dreamworld for when he needs to defend himself. The Dream realm is one of boundless possibility; Dreamer can shape it in many ways, manipulating even the substance of his own body, and can move virtually anywhere in that realm instantaneously. He can create dreamforms, familiars and subservient creatures, though he usually uses this ability to create clones of himself, as only such doppelgangers can have full autonomy. There is very little to limit Dreamer's power in the Dreamworld beyond his own constitution; massive expenditures of energy will leave him drained. In the waking world, Dreamer's powers are subject to far more limitations. He retains his ability to project aura blasts and to cloud minds as well as that of flight. His ability to create primitive dream energy-based life-forms is extant but restricted. Having been bitten and infected by the Immortal queen and summarily born anew to recreate himself, Dreamer can now use the power of that alien toxin to assume an Immortal form. This power is accessible to him in both worlds. Category:Character Category:Human Category:dreamwalker